Hamilton laments tactics in US failure

Hamilton needed to beat his now distant championship rival Sebastian Vettel by eight points, but the German overtook Mercedes’ other driver Valtteri Bottas on the penultimate lap to take fourth place and keep the title race alive heading into this weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix.

Although Hamilton’s celebrations were postponed, a title triumph for the British driver looks like a forgone conclusion.

Even if Vettel wins at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Hamilton can seal the championship by finishing as low as seventh.

“As a team we didn’t perform that great today and that’s not something we usually do — so we’ll go back to the drawing board, we’ll regroup. We’ve had some incredible performances, really good and consistent,” he told reporters.

“The key was that I at least finished ahead of Seb and for me it doesn’t matter when you win the championship as long as you get it done.

“Ultimately we wanted to win the race today and I think going backwards two steps is not a good result but … you can’t win them all, you can’t always get them perfect. For us, this was like a double bogey.”

Hamilton had begun the day in a record-extending 81st pole position but was overtaken on the first corner by Kimi Raikkonen, who made the most of his softer tires with more grip.